2 days ago
Budget panel chair to confer with House members on AKAP fate
Funding for the Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP), the assistance program for minimum-wage earners, which has been defunded in the National Expenditure Program for 2026, will be subject to consultation with members of the House of Representatives.
According to Nueva Ecija Rep. Mikaela Suansing, the chairperson of the House Committee on Appropriations, AKAP had been quite helpful for the constituents of House members.
'I would have to confer with my colleagues in the House because this would have to be a collective decision, whether or not to add funding for AKAP for this budget cycle,' Suansing told reporters.
'Personally, in recent years, nakita ko 'yung naitulong ng AKAP sa aming mga constituencies, or sectors that were previously untapped by AICS,' she added, referring to the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis (AICS) program of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman earlier said that AKAP was not included in the proposed P6.7 trillion budget for 2026. She said there were still undisbursed AKAP allocations under the 2025 budget.
'So we see the value in AKAP. So that's why, as I said, I would need to confer with my colleagues in the House because I would need to know the disposition of the whole House with regard to AKAP,' Suansing said.
Suansing said that the House of Representatives, as part of a bicameral Congress alongside the Senate, had the authority to introduce amendments to the proposed budget, provided that they are in line with the administration's priority programs.
'The agencies have the right to express their views that these are our priority programs. Please make sure these are funded. We welcome the suggestions or the thoughts of our partners in the Executive with regard to which programs and projects they want funded," Suansing said.
"And given that Congress has the power of the purse, we actually actually have that ability to look into every single line item in the National Expenditure program [as proposed by the President] and the General Appropriations Bill [to be approved by Congress], as well as move around the funding [to other budget items] accordingly,' she added.
'But again, the House will follow the call of President [Ferdinand] Bongbong Marcos [Jr.] in making sure that the programs and the projects that we will fund for fiscal year 2026 are aligned with the priorities of the administration,' Suansing said. –NB, GMA Integrated News
